Netta shook her head; then putting out her hand she took Victoria's and
pressed it. Victoria understood that she was waiting feverishly for the
answer from Threlfall, and could do nothing and think of nothing till it
arrived.
"And your daughter?" She looked round for Felicia.
"I wish to drive in a motor," said Felicia, rising and speaking with a
decision which amused Victoria. Pending the arrival from London of some
winter costumes on approval, Victoria's maid had arranged for the little
Italian a picturesque dress of dark blue silk, from a gown of her
mistress', by which the emaciation of the girl's small frame was somewhat
disguised; while the beauty of the material, and of the delicate
embroideries on the collar and sleeves, strangely heightened the grace of
her curly head, and the effect of her astonishing eyes, so liquidly
bright, in a face too slight for them.
In forty-eight hours, even, of comfort and cosseting her elfish thinness
had become a shade less ghastly; and the self-possession which had
emerged from the state of collapse in which she had arrived amazed
Victoria. A week before, so it appeared, she had been earning a franc
a day in the vineyard of a friendly _contadino_. And already one might
have thought her bred in castles. She was not abashed or bewildered by
the luxuries of Duddon, as Netta clearly was. Rather, she seemed to seize
greedily and by a natural instinct upon all that came her way--motors,
pretty frocks, warm baths in luxurious bathrooms, and the attentions of
Victoria's maid.
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